Are there more practical applications to augmented and virtual reality outside of gaming? That’s a question many are asking at this year’s Augmented World Expo in Silicon Valley.

CCTV America’s Mark Niu reports.

Techies explore more uses for virtual reality beyond gaming

Are there more practical applications to augmented and virtual reality outside of gaming? That’s a question many are asking at this year’s Augmented World Expo in Silicon Valley.

Companies including Vuforia are out to prove augmented reality is not just fun and games. Their software allows a service technician to repair almost anything faster.

“If you’ve ever struggled with something that looks like a diagram: Something 3-D maybe an instruction manual, an automotive manual where you are trying to go through different steps … All of those diagrams come off the paper and can be over your eyes and in your hands using AR,” Jay Wright, president of Vuforia, said.

The accompanying Augmented Interactive Reality glasses are for anyone in the business of fixing or serving or treating machines, people or animals.

The expo also showcases robotics with a goal to increased interactivity.

Technology has also crossed politics at the expo. Guest speaker Zoltan Istvan, a U.S. presidential candidate and founder of the Transhumanist party, pushed for greater use of technology.

Istvan offered thoughts that likely have never crossed the leading candidates minds, such as would it be better to someday have an artificial intelligence robot president?

Transhumanist presidental candidate Zoltan Istvan on science and technology
Mark Niu sat down with Zoltan Istvan, the Transhumanist party’s candidate for U.S. president, to talk about his party’s bill of rights that asks for government support of longer life spans through the use of science and technology.